On April 20th, over 60 students from Kraków high schools – VIII LO and XVIII LO – took part in the WordPress Academy.

This pilot project of the Polish WordPress community, carried out in collaboration with Klaster Zabłocie, aimed to introduce young people who had created projects (websites) at school to the WordPress environment and answer their questions.

It wouldn’t have happened without the support of Natalia Basiura, who will be a speaker on the Education Panel at WordCamp Europe and who helped arrange the venue.

The event was organized by members of the WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe Local Team – Sebastian Miśniakiewicz (Local Team Lead), Katarzyna Krówka (Local Team), Magdalena Ślęzak (Local Team), Dawid Urbański (Local Team), and Krzysztof Radzikowski (Communication, PR & Marketing Team), who introduced the students to the WordPress ecosystem and its community.

Katarzyna Krówka showed how to get started with WordPress and how to configure it properly.

Magda Ślęzak covered SEO and accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility). She showed what to do to make the students’ projects visible in search engines and LLMs, and how to make website content accessible to every user.

Krzysztof Radzikowski then focused on the hugely popular topic of AI and how to use it when working with WordPress, highlighting things like native AI integration in WordPress.

Dawid Urbański demonstrated – through a live coding session – that WordPress development is possible using AI, meaning WordPress can be used not just for building websites but also for other things, like creating custom blocks or… building a game.

Finally, Sebastian Miśniakiewicz, the event organizer, encouraged the students to visit WordCamp Europe and present the results of their work.

And there will be plenty to present. The students are working on at least 7 projects/websites:

1. A new school website to replace the current one
2. A thematically related site about the school’s patron, Stanisław Wyspiański
3. Board game and video game enthusiasts are preparing their project
4. Mythology fans are finishing work on their website
5. Because WordPress isn’t just a content CMS, another team is developing a flashcard app to make learning easier
6. Those who want to visit Kraków again after WordCamp Europe will be able to use a website dedicated to local events (concerts, fairs)
7. And since life isn’t just about education or sightseeing but also… the necessity of eating, sweet-toothed visitors will find a cookbook waiting for them!

The whole event lasted over 5 hours. There was no shortage of questions and consultations, which the students will use to finalize their projects. And during the break, delicious pizza – for which we thank Kraków Miasto Startupów.

We hope this won’t be a one-off initiative, and that we’ll meet again in Kraków soon to talk about WordPress with young people who, as we can see, know exactly how to use it to pursue their passions.

#academy, #education, #krakow, #students, #workshops